Specifically, the paper examines the winter rock sole and Pacific cod fishery in the years immediatedly following the creation of the RKCSA in 1995. Spatial closures like marine protected areas (MPAs) are prominent tools for ecosystem-based management in fisheries. However, the adaptive behavior of fishermen (the apex predator in the ecosystem) to MPAs may upset the balance of fishing impacts across species.

While ecosystem-based management (EBM) emphasizes the protection of all species in the environment, the weakest stock often dominates management attention. We use data before and after the implementation of the RKCSA to show how closures designed for red king crab protection spurred dramatic increases in Pacific halibut bycatch due to both direct displacement effects and indirect effects from adaptations in fishermen’s targeting behavior. We identify aspects of the ecological and economic context of the fishery that contributed to these surprising behaviors, noting that many multispecies fisheries are likely to share these features.

Our results highlight the need to either anticipate the behavioral adaptations of fishermen across multiple species in reserve design, a form of implementation error, or to design management systems that are robust to these adaptations. Failure to do so may yield patterns of fishing effort and mortality that undermine the broader objectives of multispecies management and potentially alter ecosystems in profound ways.

By Alan Haynie

A study by the researchers found that elevated seawater carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels, resulting in more corrosive ocean water, inhibited the larval oysters from developing their shells and growing at a pace that would make commercial production cost-effective. As atmospheric CO₂ levels continue to rise, this may serve as the proverbial canary in the coal mine for other ocean acidification impacts on shellfish, the scientists say.

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A screen covered with oyster larvae, taken in 2007 at the Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery near Netarts Bay, Ore. A 2012 study has found that Increasingly acidic ocean water is preventing larvae from developing shells. (Credit: Lynn Ketchum, Oregon State University)

Seitz recently spoke to NOAA about how fishing has changed in the 25 years he’s been a commercial fisherman and his hopes for the future.

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Penelists included Bob Dooley (President, United Catcher Boats, Owner/Operator F/V Pacific Prince); Merrick Burden (Environmental Defense Fund, Oceans Program); David Jincks (Midwater Trawlers Cooperative); Joe Bersch (Executive VP, Phoenix Processor Limited Partnership); Joe Sullivan (Partner, Mundt MacGregor LLP); Brian Mose (BC fisherman); and Rob Seitz (Captain, F/V George Allen).

The Global Ocean Health program has hosted workshops for fishermen, seafood companies, growers, conservation and community leaders; published articles in the fisheries trade press; supported production of educational videos; and helped to assemble an informed and capable group of stakeholders and scientists to respond to the causes and consequences of this major change in ocean chemistry (see SFP’s program site here).

Caused primarily by industrial society’s vast waste stream of carbon dioxide (CO₂), ocean acidification has already increased acidity of the world’s surface oceans by an estimated 30% (as measured by increase in hydrogen ion concentration) since the Industrial Revolution. In many of the world’s most productive marine and estuarine waters, this change has been even more dramatic. Acidification due to CO₂ compounds chemical changes induced by runoff of human-released nutrients and resulting eutrophication, freshening of surface ocean waters, and other processes. The consequences for growth, survival, and physiological functions of many shellfish are particularly serious; fish, plankton, and corals are also affected.

Stay tuned for additional information here and at SFP’s website above.

Videos on ocean acidification

NFCC has supported production of videos about ocean acidification featuring scientists and fishermen speaking about the risks it poses for families, jobs, businesses, and marine life.

We worked with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) and several collaborating organizations to assemble the funds, the teams, and the people interviewed in these videos. Special thanks to aerial artist John Quigley of Spectral Q Productions, videographers Leslie Morava and Mark Brinster, Alaska aerial videographer Daniel Zatz, on-the docks organizer Alan Parks, the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, and the hundreds of Alaska fishermen and mariners who poured their energy into the SOS Acid Ocean event in 2009, generating several of the images and interviews shown below.

SOS Acid Ocean and interviews with fishermen

by John Quigley, Leslie Morava, Daniel Zatz, Mark Brinster

Ocean Acidification: perspective from Dr. Mark Green, oceanographer and oyster grower in Maine

Produced by Leslie Morava, supported by SFP and NFCC

The Making of the SOS Acid Ocean Event

by John Quigley, Leslie Morava, Daniel Zatz, Mark Brinster

In another historic show of solidarity, US recreational and commercial fishermen will gather at Upper Senate Park in Washington DC on March 21, 2012 starting at noon in an organized demonstration supporting sensible reform of the Magnuson Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act.

This is a follow-up to a rally in February of 2010 that brought some 5,000 recreational, commercial and party/charter vessel owners, fishermen and people in fisheries dependent businesses from all over the country to Washington. Twenty plus Members of the Senate and House of Representatives spoke regarding efforts to reform Magnuson.

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By Craig Welch

February 27th, 2012

FRIDAY HARBOR, San Juan Island —

To understand the bizarre ways changes in ocean chemistry may affect Northwest sea life, there may be no simpler creature to start with than mussels.

When scientists in a Friday Harbor laboratory exposed mussels to slightly acidic marine water, they found the tiny fibers the shellfish use to cling to rocks stayed as strong as ever.

But when the water warmed, those fibers, called byssal threads, became less adhesive — and that could prove deadly.

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Hundreds of Belizians and international supporters gather on an island on the Barrier Reef off the coast of Belize City, Belize, on November 13, 2010 to form a human banner asking if the end is near for endangered coral reefs and calling for harmony with the natural world. The event was on the final day of the three-day Belize Reef Summit which urged global leaders to take strong action to protect reefs at the U.N. Climate Talks in Cancun, Mexico. The summit included a variety of speakers on a wide range of topics related to climate change impacts on the Mesoamerican Reef.

Photo by Lou Dematteis / Spectral Q

“Talking Fish” comprised of over 8,800 students appear at five different California beaches marking Kids’ Ocean Day

Students learn about the ocean and marine debris, conduct beach cleanups, and form giant aerial art messages photographed from the sky (see http://www.oceanday.net/2011.html).

San Francisco, CA – Over 8,800 students from Humboldt to San Diego formed giant talking fish designs on various California beaches to publicize the need to prevent ocean pollution. The group art projects, viewable from the air, took place after beach clean up events, part of the 18th Annual Kids’ Adopt-a-Beach Cleanup. The cleanup events were part of a series of Kids’ Ocean Day Adopt-A-Beach Cleanups at six beaches up and down the California coast and one in Marineland, Florida. Kids’ Ocean Day, honoring World Oceans Day on June 8th, was organized statewide by the California Coastal Commission.

Each event was organized locally and each design depicted a fish with an ocean conservation message. The participants were as follows:

• San Diego County: Nearly 1,000 students led by I Love A Clean San Diego cleaned Crown Point Shores and created a mako shark saying, “Coexist.”

• Orange County: 875 kids led by Orange County Coastkeeper cleaned Huntington State Beach and formed a flounder saying, “Clean Seas Please!”

• Los Angeles County: Over 5,500 students organized by the Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education cleaned up Dockweiler State Beach and sat in formation to make a giant fish saying, “Kelp Us!”

• San Francisco County: 550 students led by Richardson Bay Audubon cleaned Ocean Beach and created a bat ray saying “Turn the tide,” referring to the need for people to reverse our pollution-creating behaviors and prevent trash from flowing into the oceans.

• Humboldt County: 900 students organized by Friends of the Dunes cleaned up the South Spit and formed a salmon saying, “Coexist.”

• Monterey County: 185 students taught by Fresno Chaffee Zoo were bused all the way from their hometown of Fresno to clean and enjoy Monterey Municipal Beach. No aerial art was formed.

Over 5,500 students organized by the Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education cleaned up Dockweiler State Beach and sat in formation to make a giant fish saying, “Kelp Us!”